I love Mexican food and have tried many different places. El caporal is by far my favorite. The salsa is amazing. I get chicken fajitas, which are delicious. You get big servings so I have enough to have for leftovers later. The staff is always good. If you want Mexican food, I highly recommend going here. I visit at least once a week. read more

Food was just okay but the service was terrible. Had to ask for everything from a menu to the bill and all in between. Servers obviously don't like their jobs, didn't see one smile or didn't hear one thank you. read more

Generic Mexican food. Decently flavored. Service could've been better but wasn't horrid.

The margaritas were neon green and way too sweet, major fail as a Mexican restaurant. The food was pretty good, but we won't be back due to the terrible neon green margaritas. read more

The food and drinks here are consistently awesome. Best Mexican in town, great service.

We love the food and service here!! Their bar has incredible adult beverages! I love this place. My only complaint is they don't take reservations for large parties! We called ahead to let them know there would be a group of 15. And we still waited for 45 minutes. That is the only reason I am giving them 3 instead of 5 stars! read more

Been eating here for 14 years, and the service, food, and drinks are ALWAYS consistently excellent. To those saying its too expensive-- have u been to ANY other mexican restaurant in Bend?? Prices are competitive! I am generally hard to please, and honestly, I've never once had a bad experience here, or at the old location. I really don't understand why there aren't more 5 star reviews! Some of these one and two star reviews are total BS: one guy complaining that it wasn't spicy enough so he used Tapatio?? Which item on any traditional family Mexican restaurant menu is supposed to melt your face off?? (I know of none! What an idiot!)-- traditional authentic Mexican food relies on hot sauce for added heat, entrees are not supposed to be hot and super spicy!! EVERYTHING here is done with pride and integrity, just look at the owner's replies to each review-- not many restaurants do that. Much respect! read more

Honestly, I used to love this place before they moved to the new location. The new place is way too big and no one even sees when you walk in. I have worked in the food industry before so i know not to come in, in the last 30 minutes. They close at 10pm I called at 9pm for an order. They said 10 minutes. I got there 15 minutes later to give them time and when I arrived, they acted like they had no idea about my order. So i waited. 30 minutes later my food came and not only was I slightly upset with the service, but they also raised their price, added $3 onto all menu items. So now one plate is 17$ and i waited 30 minutes after my call in time. Unacceptable. This place has gone way down. Nice store but the quality of food has gone down too. read more

I've been coming to this place since I moved to Bend and it's still as good as ever.

I was very hungry for some good Mexican food and stopped by the El Caporal and was seated immediately. The colored chips were fantastic and the service was quick and loyal. The food and margaritas are all excellent. read more

A very unfortunate dining experience. Ate in the lounge area with my elderly friend. We ordered their happy hour small house margarita. My friend who rarely orders alcoholic beverages, I noticed as we were gabbing in conversation and catching up, had slurped her drink rather quickly. I made a comment that she drank that fast. She said her drink wasn't strong and seemed their wasn't any alcohol in it. We mentioned it our server and he commented that she shouldn't have drank it and added ice and that he made the drinks the same and we could see the video footage. We then asked for the manager. He treated my friend with disrespect and didn't feel customer service was important. This was a $4.25 drink and maybe 8oz with ice! There was no offer to take it off her bill even when we insisted. We were treated as if we intentionally were trying to scam the restaurant. The manager could care less that we were unhappy. He should've apologized for the drink, taken it off the bill and should've said politely, next time if there's a problem, bring it to our attention immediately. But since he didn't put the customer first, it's the result of my going on Yelp, FB, and word of mouth not to patronize this place. There are much better Mexican restaurants in Bend- El Rodeo, El Sancho to name a couple. Shame on El Caporal for treating an elderly woman like some swindler! read more

We ordered margaritas, carne asada, and a taco dinner combo. Everything was great, except for the tacos. The shells seemed store bought, and the ground beef was greasy and tasted like I bought it at Taco Bell. Not the best Mexican food I've had in town. I usually hate not finishing my food because I feel disrespectful, but I couldn't even finish one of the three tacos. read more

Don't bother! They are very rude and the men have the "machismo" attitude. The male manager was being very rude and talking down to my wife and when I got involved he called me Spanish curse name thinking that I wouldn't understand him. The only reason he still has teeth is because my wife grabbed me and told me she didn't want me to go to jail. And all of this for not so good Mexican food. Not authentic and just so so. Don't bother going unless you want to be treated poorly and get bad food. read more

We've been to the new location a few times now. The food is as good as ever, but the service is not what is used to be. The first time we figured it was just because of the change and staff needing to get used to the new place. But it wasn't great on this recent visit either. We love the roomier building, although the acoustics are terrible and it is very loud even when the dining room isn't all that busy. Not a good place if you want to have a conversation with anyone that has hearing issues. Still, it's our favorite Mexican food in Bend. read more

I have been to two of the El Caporal restaurants - one in Tumalo and one in Downtown Bend. The food is pretty good, which I will qualify... For Bend, it is the best sit-down conventional Mexican food restaurant you will find. I have had the fortune of eating at many very yummy restaurants all over the place and have had much better food than El Caporal. If you are in Bend and looking for conventional Mexican food, try El Caporal. I go here with friends when I want to hang out, have a couple Margaritas and fairly inexpensive food. I have had really good service here most of the time, especially in their smaller Tumalo location. read more

Yuck! That was not good at all. I ordered the chicken tacos. The shells where stale and chicken was dry and chewy with no flavor. My daughter ordered the children quesadilla and could hardly stomach it. I don't recommend eating here. The service was good, too bad the food was awful. read more

Food was ok, the service was awful. Wait d for 10 min to order drink, never checked in after first drink, would have loved a second marg. Lost revenue. Need to step up service. read more

My fiancé and I love Mexican food and we were trying out different restaurants around Bend over this last year to find our favorite. This is it! From the chips and salsa, to the margaritas (the one with jalapeños in it is the one we LOVE), to the main meal, everything has flavor and is served hot and in a timely manner (for us that is receiving the main plate less than 20min after we order on a busy night). We usually get a combination item like enchiladas and tacos, or burritos. I really like their rice and beans over other places we've tried. Our most recent visit we ordered the "fajitas for two" dish. I had the shrimp and my fiancé had the chicken. It was delicious!! We were very pleased. We will definitely be ordering the fajitas in the future. I also want to say that the service is professional and they all seem to be happy to be there (at least when we go there). We are so glad we found this place a few months ago; this place deserves more than 5 stars in our opinion. read more

The food is good! Everything tasted great. Chips and salsa were even good. Hot & fresh! We ordered combos and drinks. The refried beans were good. The rice was ok. Service was friendly but slow. Would definitely go back there anytime. I can't wait till I can go back. read more

My husband and I eat at El Caporal once a week and this is the only location we will go to. The service is great, always very friendly and quick. Great food, and the best frickin salsa I have ever had! My mom who lives in Portland always brings a big tub home when she visits because you can't find salsa like this anywhere else. Yum. read more

i actually have only been to the tumalo location. the food is fair. the service is also fair. the side bean burrito is delicious! mmmmm... comes covered in really good enchilada sauce and drowning in cheese. perfect. read more

My husband and I ate at a table in the bar yesterday, around 6 p.m. This was our first visit. The atmosphere seemed pleasant and authentic. The tortilla chips and tasty spicy salsa arrived promptly, however I had to take napkin-wrapped silverware for us from another table since ours had none, and none was on the way. Our primary server, H., was late delivering both our beverages, which sat at the bar for a long time as I eyed them, as well as, apparently, our dinners. My dinner was lukewarm, served on a "hot plate," that was just slightly warm. The requested meats in our orders were reversed! Instead of shredded beef, I was served ground beef in my enchilada. It was vice versa for my husband's chimichanga order. Our server NEVER checked back with us to inquire how our dinners were. There were no apologies about that when he delivered the bill. We will not be back. read more

Great family style Mexican food with always happy staff. Our favorite go to place for dinner.

Visited with friends Sat March 3. Ordered the special, sauteed shrimp & mushrooms. Overnight was sick. Spent Sunday indisposed. By Sunday night the ship hit the sand, as they say. Still feeling it Monday and Tuesday. If there was a no star option I would use it. Reported restaurant problem to Deschutes County inspectors. read more

Went there with my sister this past week and was not impressed. The salsa was so so and my dinner was below average. The wait staff was extra friendly so this place gets 3 starts instead of two. read more

We gone here just today around 3:00pm to get something super quick and good food. Looking at other reviews and saw the one in Tumalo had an amazing 5 STAR rating, but since we live here in bend and close by we just wanted to give here a shot even tho it didn't have as great rating. First off I came here with my older brother and once we walked in, no one was up at the front, my brother had to walk around the whole restaurant just to find someone who didn't even seem to care that he had more customers. We said only two and he grabbed two menus and walked off and we just followed him, not even a come with me or follow me or something. So we went and he put the menus on the table and just walked away. We sat down and waited a min or two and came with chips, salsa and slaw. I asked for mild salsa which was fine, he went and got that, but the slaw was horrible! It had no flavor and seemed like they washed it off with water and called that slaw, horrible! Secondly when looking over the price of the menu, the Enchilada Congrejo, which is my favorite enchilada ever at El Rancho, which is an amazing Mexican restaurant is almost half the price of here! $18.00 bucks here for that? Really! Outrageous! So I had to get the Chile Reno Burrito, which the food was just ok, it had some good flavors but was still lacking that kinda love and POW that other restaurants have. All and all, probably never going back. I still will always go to El Rodeo and El Rancho! Those are by far the best Mexican Restaurants here in Bend Oregon! read more

OMG! Everything was great from the staff to the food! Delicious shredded cabbage salsa and hot salsa with chips, Mexican Martini, and the main course came on two very hot plates with prawns, halibut and mushrooms and peppers and onions, then rice, beans, pico de gallo, shredded lettuce and cheese, guacamole and sour cream and tortillas. Then she brought each of us a tortilla chip coated with cinnamon and sugar, covered with whipped cream and a dollop of raspberry sauce. Had to walk around the block! Highly recommended! read more

Been here several times and the food is always enjoyable. The last time we were in, we always sit in the bar, the bartender who took our order got lost in the soccer game on television and seemed to forget to check in with us. The chip and salsa are always delicious like the food is. read more

El Caporal is one of our favorite places to eat. Everything I've tasted over the years has been great. My favorite though is Arroz con Pollo. Piping hot and plenty on the plate. I often can have lunch the next day on the serving left on my plate. We always look forward to dining here. It makes my mouth water just writing this review. read more

We had a wonderful dinner of a Bandera Platter which had Chili Verde, Chili Colorado and a Chili Relleno. My wife and I split the dish as we knew from past experiences they serve a LOT of food on the plate. We come to this restaurant everytime we are in the Bend/Redmond area. I would rate the food a solid 4 (only because we know of a better restaurant in Tigard Oregon) but would rate the staff a beautiful 5. Margarita our waitress and she was on top of everything making sure we were well taken care of. read more

I used to go to this place all the time!! the food is good but the drinks are too expensive and have very little kick to them. I would just stick with water here but enjoy the Fajitas. read more

We've been loyal El Cap customers for years. Clean restaurant, good food, great service, friendly staff.